outhouses and freezing caves

I'll say it now; I miss normal bowel movements. In fact, it's one of the things I miss most about being back home. Maybe I'm just not accustomed to the food here. Whatever the case, my bowel movements are definitely not regular anymore. I think it might be the excessive amount of meat Chinese people eat. Every single meal has been loaded with meat dishes with very little greens, and it's taking a toll on my digestive system. I try to load up on veggies whenever I get the chance, and it's usually no very often I do. Need them fibers. Makes your poo come out easier. Refer to this video if you don't know where that comes from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR59E1nv3xY

It's hilarious :) Sorry for the TMI haha...

7/5:

So today is my second day in Dandong. I was woken up7

pretty early, around 730, still tired and groggy. After I brushed my teeth and washed my face, I sat on my bed and wrote my chinese name on a piece of paper. I told Tianyang and Gaochang to do the same so I can compare handwritings. Of course, mine was the worst by far. A family friend who also came with us on the trip mentioned how ugly my handwriting is compared to Gaochang's. Then he gave me a brief lesson on how to properly write my name. I got schooled pretty badly. Apparently his handwriting is really pretty. I asked him to sign his name to see just how good it looked. His signature honestly looked like a bunch of loopy squiggles. There is no way he wrote chinese, but I don't have an eye for nice chinese signatures. Everyone else said it looked fantastic. I thought it looked like something I could've drawn when I was 5...

We checked out of our hotel and headed towards the countryside to go tubing down some river. Tubing down the river takes approximately 2.5 hours, and it's actually what I was looking forward to doing the most in Dandong. Sadly, the river was dry and extremely shallow, so tubing was a no go :( I also saw the most eastern segment of the Great Wall, which was only this small tower on top of a mountain. We didn't climb up, but just took some pictures of it. I encountered my first outhouse at the same place. It was a three and a half wall room with not much of roof. The other half of the wall was an opening to a gaping hole in the ground. There was no smell when I stood 10 feet away from it, but a wall of foul sewage smell hit me as soon as I got within 6 feet of it. I snapped a quick photo and got the heck out of there real quick.

After some more scenic roads through the countryside, we finally reached the river separating North Korea from China. We didn't get to ride the boat yesterday, so we planned on riding one today. Finding a boat was also a matter of asking around and haggling for the best price. We settled on a boat ride from a small countryside restaurant owner and ordered lunch from him to be eaten after we got off our boat tour. The boat ride was pretty enjoyable. There was a strong breeze as the boat skimmed over the river. We were probably about 500 feet from the North Korean shore. I wonder if North Koreans ever swim across to China? The river's not that wide, definitely narrow enough to perhaps swim across and easily boated across. We saw North Korean fisherman fishing and swimming in the river. The North Korean side was pretty much a pastoral farming area with lots of wooden farm houses and small fields. We waved at the people we saw, and some of them waved back at us. I even saw some soldiers, rifles and all, patrolling the border. Our boat barely escaped a rainstorm on the way back to dock, and it's a good thing we did escape. It started pouring a couple minutes after we got back to the small restaurant. We ate a hearty lunch with dishes full of homegrown ingredients and local specialties such as some type of river fish. My relatives kept telling me to eat more because I'll never taste food like this in the city.

We ate a late and long lunch, so it was a little after 3pm when we finished. Our next stop on our trip was to find a hotel with hot spring water to take a good soak. The spring water in Dandong is famous in China, and it's one of the main reasons the adults on the trip wanted to come. We looked around the city, but couldn't find a suitable hotel with private baths. After some more searching, we happened upon a hotel with spring water exclusively for the Chinese army. Normally we wouldn't be able to stay there because none of us was in the army, but my aunt talked to the guard, and he let us in somehow. Like I said, connections can get you far in China. Not gonna lie though, the rooms were very shabby. There was no AC, and the place looked quite old and not well kept. The tiles in the restrooms were dirty, and I really didn't trust the toilet. However, the yard outside the hotel was beautiful, and it was a gated area. Even though the hotel rooms downright sucked, at least our cars were safe, and we had hot spring water to bathe in. Surprisingly, I wasn't the one complaining about my living conditions for the night. I was content at the time, but Tianyi kept griping and complaining. I was just satisfied with a place to sleep and rest. My uncle went and bought some disinfecting spray to wipe down the tubs in the bathrooms and we all soaked in the hot spring water. The water's full of minerals, and dried up minerals accumulate in the sink a couple minutes after you use it. Bathing in the water's good for the skin apparently, but I didn't stay in my bath for long. It was just wayyyy too hot, and I could only stand about 10 minutes of it. I just treated it as a hot water bath and nothing more. We spent the rest of the night playing cards until it was bedtime. Our rooms were full creepy crawlies since we kept our windows opened to get some natural air. They got in even though the windows had a screen over it. I also encountered a large cockroach in my room that was about 2 inches long. Oh how I loathe those critters...

7/6:

Today was my last day in Dandong, and our last stop was an underground cave with a river inside. The weather today was overcast, and temperatures were probably in the low to mid 70s. It was the coolest weather I've felt in China so far, and it felt real good. It started to rain right when we were buying our tickets. Thankfully I brought my Rice ID and saved 7 bucks on my ticket. We descended into the cave after riding trolley to the opening. The cave was pretty normal with the standard low ceilings stalagmites and stalactites. What made this cave different from any other cave was the temperature inside. It was probably around 80 degrees outside the cave, but it was 53.6 degrees inside the cave, definitely cold enough to make me shiver. I had goosebumps on my arms the entire time I was in the cave. Thankfully, the boat ride down the river provided giant fluffy ski overcoats. I know it sounds ridiculous, but those ski coats were absolutely necessary inside that cave. We rode in a small motorboat that seated 15 people. The water was really clear and freezing cold. I took a bunch of pictures of the various rock formations. Some of the iconic ones had names such as "Tiger's Mouth" and "Leaning Tower." I stopped taking pictures at a point when I realized all of them pretty much looked the same and just sat back and enjoyed the scenery.

For a late lunch, we stopped at a regionally famous lamb meat restaurant that's known for its lamb broth. I love lamb, but I wasn't very hungry at that point. I'd also had enough meat for now and wasn't too keen on loading up on more lamb meat. Instead, I loaded up on as much vegetables as possible and just sipped on my lamb broth. The broth wasn't particularly amazing tasting, but it was pretty good. After lunch, we finally headed back to Shenyang.

I went back to Tianyi's house, probably the main place I'll be sleeping at during my time here in China. We rested, and some of us took showers to cool off and clean ourselves. I had run out of clean clothes by now and was eager to take a shower and change. For dinner, one of Tianyang's mom, who's Tianyi's aunt, offered to treat us out at a famous and upscale Sichuan restaurant. Sichuan food is known for its spicy dishes, and I was hungry for some good food after not eating much during lunch. The restaurant was really nice. It's by far the best looking one I've seen so far in China. It was clean modern, and all the waitresses looked professional. Tianyang's parents were already there by the time we arrived and had already ordered most of the dishes, so we started eating right away. I tried some new food at the restaurant. I had baby bamboo shoots for the first time, and they were surprisingly pretty tasty. I remember running through the bamboo section in Welcome Food Market back in Houston, because the smell was so repugnant. However, these shoots weren't bad at all. I also had some sort of special shrimp that I've never tasted before. They were way more tender than any shrimp I've ever eaten and also a lot smaller. Also very tasty. I had plume juice for the first time too. Definitely want some more now haha. All of the food was very delicious, and it was probably the most satisfying meal I've had in China so far. When we were finishing up our meal, a stranger at the table next to us who worked for Tianyang's dad offered to pay the bill for us. Tianyang's dad works in the northeastern sector of the chinese railroad company that services three provinces in northeastern China. He's pretty high up in the corporate hierarchy and wields a lot of power. He's definitely a big shot with a lot of power and someone you would want to suck up to as the co-worker tried to do. After the guy left, Tianyang's dad says he's only seen the guy before and doesn't even know him. I guess I was just surprised at how much power Tianyang's dad has. More broadly, I'm very surprised at how far you can get if you have the right connections and money in China. Rules are very flexible here if you have both.

Even more observations/differences!

• It's illegal to step on grass in northern China. Fields of grass are nearly non-existent here, and the ones available are for soccer fields or golf courses with membership fees. Chinese officials don't want people to mess up what precious little grass they have. Definitely no ultimate here :(
• Everyone has a high tech cell phone here. Pretty much every single teenager here has some sort of smart phone, and they're constantly using them. Even the country bumpkin who owned the small restaurant we ate at had a decent cell phone.
• You can pay for a personalized signature here in China. It's a text message service where you text your Chinese name to a number, and they'll send you a picture with a professional looking signature.
• Age relations are very important here in China. Respect is demanded and expected when speaking or interacting with an older individual, even if they're only a couple of months older than you like Tianyi is. It's very different from America where you can joke around and interact as equals with peers who are within a couple years of your age. Here, you're expected to use "older brother" or "younger sister" when addressing friends or family. I've also found that I have to be a little more submissive and respectful to Tianyi than when he was living with me back home just because he's older than me and is my "older brother."
• All lights in the stairwells of apartment buildings are sound activated. Stomping is a good way to turn them on. I think it's pretty amusing to stomp up the stairs activating the lights :P